CLACKMANNANSHIRE COUNCIL
Report to Council of 8th November 2007
Subject: Kinship Care
Prepared by: Deirdre Cilliers, Head of Social Services
1.0 SUMMARY
1.1. The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (the Act) governs how local authorities should look after and accommodate children when necessary. When a child cannot remain with his or her parent(s) it is desirable that they are cared for by another family member if possible, with such an arrangement being referred to as kinship care. Clackmannanshire Council has a duty under the Act to consider a kinship care placement in the first instance when arranging a foster placement for any child.
1.2. While kinship placements are currently made across Scotland, few local authorities have a formal policy framework for these arrangements. Although the Scottish Executive undertook to offer guidance, this is not yet available. It is therefore proposed that Clackmannanshire Council adopt an interim policy based on good practice and taking recent decisions by the Court of Session into account. This interim policy may be amended if required when national guidance is made available.
2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1. That Council agrees in principle to adopt the following framework as a formal interim policy on kinship care.
2.2. That Council delegates authority to a short life working group to review the framework in the light of national guidance as it emerges.
3.0 BACKGROUND
3.1. In any situation where a child is unable to live with his or her parent(s), the Council should consider a kinship care arrangement in preference to a formal foster placement if appropriate. This will not be possible for all children or in all circumstances, but there is a duty on the Council to give consideration to kinship care.
3.2. Kinship carers are unlikely to have any formal training or experience in foster care. The child’s social worker will assess their suitability to care for the child on a case by case basis and will ensure that the child’s safety and wellbeing remain the overriding consideration.
3.3. Payment to kinship carers by local authorities has been highly contentious, with local authority decisions being challenged at Judicial Review. Recent court judgments have made it clear that it is unacceptable for councils to discriminate against kinship carers by making lower allowances than those made to Registered Foster Carers. However, Registered Foster Carers are eligible for an additional fostering fee and payment for skills that would not be paid to a kinship carer. Kinship carers will only be caring for one child or sibling group and would not normally require a range of specialist skills. If particular skills were required by a kinship carer, training and support would be provided.
3.4. In practice, this means that kinship carers should receive an allowance equivalent to the basic rate fostering allowance. The payment is made to ensure that the child does not suffer financial hardship and that the family caring for the child is not disadvantaged. It will also help to ensure that other children of the family do not suffer financial hardship. Such payments are made in Clackmannanshire at present, albeit in the absence of a formal policy.
3.5. Such payments would only be made where a kinship placement was arranged by social services. While there are around thirty children within the Clackmannanshire area in kinship care arrangements at present, there are only six children in respect of whom payments are currently being made as a matter of good practice. These six children have been formally placed in kinship care arrangements by social services and the families caring for them have been assessed as kinship carers.
3.6. The basic rate fostering allowance and fees (including an element of Payment for Skills based on assessed competencies, reflected in levels two and three) are as shown in table 1 below:
Basic Fostering Allowance* by age of child (per week). / Fostering Fee (including Payment for Skills at levels 2 & 3) (per week).Birth to 4 years / £118.60 / Level 1 / £92.25
5 to 10 years / £135.10 / Level 2 / £143.50
11 to 15 years / £168.18 / Level 3 / £169.13
16 to 18 years / £204.55
Table 1: Rates of Payment and Allowance.
*This is the payment that would be made to kinship carers.
3.7. The council has a responsibility under Section 31 of the Act to review kinship care arrangements. If it is in the best interests of the child, the arrangement may in some cases become permanent. Carers can apply for a court order under section 11 of the Act. If appropriate, the Sheriff can make a Residence Order, giving the kinship carers parental rights and responsibilities for the child. Once the Sheriff has made a Residence Order however, the child lives permanently with his or her new family and no further reviews will take place. The child will no longer be part of the Children’s Hearing system. Such an Order will therefore free up social work time and resources.
3.8. it is proposed that payments to kinship carers should generally continue in the event of a s11 Residence Order being granted. There are two reasons for continuing to make payments and these should be taken into consideration in any final policy statement.
3.9. The first reason is the importance of stability and security in family relationships. Where a carer has the parental rights and responsibilities that come with a Residence Order, there is a permanency and ‘normality’ about the relationship. The family will not be ‘supervised’ or reviewed by social workers and will make their own judgement as to what is in the best interest of the child. In continuing to make payments to kinship carers who have a Residency Order, the Council is recognising the importance of the Order in securing an appropriate upbringing for the child. This is essentially the aim of the Act and the responsibility of the Council.
3.10. Secondly, the loss of kinship care allowances would put some families in a difficult financial position. Kinship carers may not seek a Residence Order if they can’t afford to bring up the child without this financial support, potentially denying the child the benefits of a permanent Residence Order. By offering this continued payment to families, we would remove any financial disincentive to seeking a Residency Order and thus meet our obligations under the Act.
3.11. The working group will determine whether such continuing payments should be means tested in future to ensure that they are targeted effectively to reduce financial disincentive and preventing hardship.
4.0 CONCLUSIONS
4.1. A short life working group is required to give detailed consideration to the issues around kinship care.
4.2. It is proposed that this group makes recommendations to Council in the form of a Kinship Care Policy for Clackmannanshire Council, taking account of national guidance in due course.
4.3. This interim policy framework, as laid out in 3.2 – 3.10 will formalise current good practice to ensure that when the Council makes a kinship care placement, the carer receives a payment equivalent to the basic rate fostering allowance. It will also formalise the Council’s support of permanency in cases where this is in the best interests of the child. This will remove financial disincentives to kinship care arrangements.
5.0 SUSTAINABILITY IMPLICATIONS
5.1. An Interim Kinship Care Policy would have the potential to assist low income and disadvantaged groups in offering a kinship care placement to a family member.
6.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
6.1. Payments to kinship carers are made at present under s50 of the Act. The proposed policy would formalise this arrangement but should not result in significantly increased costs.
6.2. Declarations
(1) The recommendations contained within this report support or implement Corporate Priorities, Council Policies and/or the Community Plan:
· Corporate Priorities (Key Themes) (Please tick þ)
Achieving Potential ¨
Maximising Quality of Life þ
Securing Prosperity ¨
Enhancing the Environment ¨
Maintaining an Effective Organisation ¨
· Council Policies (Please detail)
· Community Plan (Themes) (Please tick þ)
Community Safety ¨
Economic Development ¨
Environment and Sustainability ¨
Health Improvement ¨
(2) In adopting the recommendations contained in this report, þ
the Council is acting within its legal powers. (Please tick þ)
(3) The full financial implications of the recommendations contained þ
in this report are set out in the report. This includes a reference
to full life cycle costs where appropriate. (Please tick þ)
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Head of Service
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Director
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